PRINTED FROM UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright University of North Carolina Press, 2017. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in CSO for personal use (for details see http://www.northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 18 February 2018

“The Great Male Cop-Out”

“The Great Male Cop-Out”

Natasha Zaretsky

Publisher:

University of North Carolina Press

DOI:10.5149/9780807867808_zaretsky.7

This chapter explores what economists called “productivity lag,” a trope of national decline in America during the early 1970s that revolved around the family. More specifically, it considers cultural anxieties about the nation's productive capacity that surfaced at the same time. It begins by tracing the problem to the postwar years, when productivity rates rose steadily but began to slow down in the steel and automobile industries by the late 1960s. It then discusses the argument that the lag could be attributed to a “new breed” of workers who were no longer responsive to the economic incentives that had compelled the previous generation of men to work. It also looks at corporations' implementation of quality of work life programs that utilized the psychological language of self-fulfillment to boost efficiency. Finally, the chapter examines the revival of a “producerist ethic” in response to deindustrialization, the expansion of the service sector, and the end of the family wage.

North Carolina Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.

PRINTED FROM UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright University of North Carolina Press, 2017. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in CSO for personal use (for details see http://www.northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 18 February 2018